Linux may soon have a stronger open-source competitor on the desktop if FreeBSD's plans come to fruition. FreeBSD developer Scott Long told ZDNet UK on Thursday that the operating system, descended from the Unix derivative BSD, is "quickly approaching" feature parity with Linux. "Lots of work is going on to make FreeBSD more friendly on the desktop," Long said. "Within the year, we expect to have, or be near, parity with Linux."

What he meant is that since there is only one FreeBSD, if you Google for help on FreeBSD, the results are always relevant. If you search for help on Linux, you might get SUSE help, Ubuntu help or whatever. Sometimes it applies to your problem, and sometimes it doesn't.

Also, FreeBSD can focus on FreeBSD specific documentation. They are in complete control of everything from start to finish.

This is exactly how each distro functions as well...each consisting of their own respective communities w/ relevant documentation, forums, mailing lists, etc.

However, the difference is, if you don't care for the community of one distro you have hundreds to choose from and experiment with. This level of competition forces a distro to stay relevant or drop out of the race.

I believe this "open market" environment w/ Linux distros today is what is pushing it forward so quickly and gaining it respect and corporate sponsorship. That, of course, combined with excellent engineering, dedicated programmers, and whordes of techies out there willing to experiment to help improve the quality.

In the BSD space there isn't nearly as much adoption or expansion. The momentum in BSD currently just cannot compare.

There is some validity to what you're saying. But, try Googling for something like "starting postfix on archlinux" vs. "starting postfix on FreeBSD" or "installing mysql on slackware" vs. "installing mysql on FreeBSD".

I primarily use Ubuntu and Windows. And, searching for Ubuntu help is pretty productive (alot like FreeBSD's). But, the point is that it's not hit and miss in FreeBSD.

By any chance, have you only experienced the Linux side of your argument? Be honest . . .